Improvement Pill here, so the other day I came across a post on Reddit titled 50 life
lessons from an 80 year old, and I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on each
of these points with you. This is probably going to be part one of a three part series
because there's just so many points to cover. Other than that let's jump right into it.
1 Don’t expect life to be fair. It was biased and it will be.
I absolutely agree with this. If you think about it - life is sort of like a video game.
Normally, when you start a new game you usually get to pick the difficulty mode. Easy, normal,
medium, hard. You get the point. Unfortunately for the game of life - you can't pick what
difficulty mode you start out with, you're kind of just thrown into it, but this doesn't
mean that you can't play better than the other guys. In fact you have the advantage of gaining
significantly more respect from others, and also more appreciation from yourself - if
you manage to play the game of life on hard or extreme difficulty and still do well. Nobody
respects the person who just cruised by on easy mode. Not even themselves.
2 Remember 80% of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
Yep - Most of the time people don't promote or hire based on who can do the best job.
They promote and hire the people that can do a very good job but are also likable. Because
these are people that they will potentially be spending time with every single day. I
don't want to hire or promote you even if you would do a better job if it meant that
my life would become 25% more stressful. I just don't want to deal with that. Learn how
to become likable – it's one of the most important skills out there.
3 Wave at the children on the school bus.
I think a more modern version for this one would be to say hello to people wherever you
go. We live in a time where more and more people feel lonely, but that's because we've
gotten into the bad habit of closing ourselves up from those around us. Say hello, be the
first to step outside and greet your neighbor because we're all human and we're all in this
game called life together. The more interactions you have with the people around you the more
you'll feel connected with the world. This can be the source of a lot fulfilling relationships,
a lot of memorable experiences, and ultimately a lot of joy.
4 Compliment the meal when you’re a guest in someone’s home.
If you think about it a cooked meal is one of the most unique gifts that someone can
give you. When I cook something for you. I'm feeding you. I'm helping you live another
day. I've paid for all the ingredients. I've taken time out of my day to make this thing
for you. And it's not like other forms of creation such as songs which can be given
to a lot of people. If I cooked a meal for you – it is only for you. Complimenting
my cooking is a great way to show your appreciation for this thing that I created for you. For
the kindness I'm sending your way.
5 Count your blessings.
Yeah, it's pretty darn important to have some sort of gratitude habit. Life can seem tough
and pretty dark if you focus on the negatives. So every once in a while – even better – every
once a day you should allow yourself to focus on the good. Because there is good out there.
Good things have happened to each and every single one of you. And they will continue
to happen. It doesn't matter how big or small these things are, heck one of the things I've
been writing down is my love for the amazing soup my hotel serves for breakfast. Spend
some time focusing on the good everyday because if you choose to only focus on the bad you
will lose hope. And without hope you will have no motivation to do anything.
6 Marry only for love.
I recently watched a video about divorce lawyers and one of them said that getting married
is like playing the lottery. You're probably going to lose but if you win that's great.
Of course this varies from country to country – but in the US where we have a divorce
rate of over 50% - I don't think getting married is the smartest move. If you really love each
other just live together.
7 Become someone’s hero.
More importantly you need to collect heroic moments. Which is a concept that I definitely
need to cover in a future video. It's incredibly important to have heroic moments that you
can add to your memory bank. These are moments that will serve as reminders that you can
look back on for the rest of your life. By having heroic moments you can say to yourself.
Yeah! I am a good person – because I helped that old lady carry her groceries up those
stairs that one time. I am courageous – because I spoke up to that bully the last time he
was trying to pick on that kid. I don't give up – because of a b and c. You get the point.
Gathering heroic moments like these will allow you to choose and mold your identity into
one that you can be proud of.
8 Make someone’s day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
This is pretty specific. I think a better phrasing for this would be to do random acts
of kindness every once in a while. Studies have found that by doing good deeds such as
community service can boost your levels of happiness by about 10-15% which is quite a
lot. Give food to the homeless. Open doors for people. Give out compliments to cashiers
and bus drivers. Little things like these will bring a lot of joy into your life and
also to those that you interact with.
9 Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
Things that people don't expect have 10 times more impact than things they do expect. For
example if you buy your girlfriend or wife flowers on valentines day it's nowhere nearly
as impact-full as compared to if you bought it for them randomly. Showing someone that
you love them on a day where everyone else does that doesn't do it good justice. If you
really want to show someone you love them – do it on the days where they least expect
it. People tend to treasure and remember moments like that for the rest of their life.
10 Show respect for everyone who works for their living, regardless how trivial their
job.
I think there was a story about a famous executive who would invite potential employees – to
eat at a local diner with him. And he would pay close attention to how they treated the
staff there. If they treated the staff poorly it gives you insight on what type of person
he or she is. This is a person who thinks he or she is genuinely better – more entitled
than another human being. And that's someone that will only look out for themselves if
they were to join your company. People working retail and service have it pretty tough. They
probably don't enjoy their job – so don't make it worse for them.
11 Keep a notepad and pencil on your bed side table. Million dollar ideas sometimes strike
at 3 A.M.
Yes – some of the best ideas that I've ever had came to me when I was out of the office.
Randomly on the train, in bed, in the shower, I've literally had moments where I was deep
in thought in the shower – and a light-bulb goes off in my head – and where I've literally
had to run out – dripping all over the floor to get to a whiteboard so I could quickly
jot the idea down. The best ideas come when you aren't trying to think of a good idea.
That's kind of how it works. Your brain is always cooking up new concepts in the background
and you never know when a good one is going to appear.
12 Answer the phone with energy and enthusiasm in your voice.
The voice is a very very powerful tool. If you think about it – it is in fact an instrument.
And instruments can convey feelings. A sad sounding melody played on the piano will make
you think sad thoughts. While a happy upbeat piano song will make you want to stand up
and dance.
Play happy/excited songs with your voice so that the people you interact with feel happy/and
excited too. Use your voice to double the impact you want to make. To set the tone of
the interaction the way you want it.
You also need to practice learning how to play this instrument in general. Learn how
to lower your voice when you need to. Learn how to change the pacing of your words. Learn
how to pause. The better you get at playing the instrument the better all of your future
interactions will be.
13 Send a lot of valentine cards. Sign them. ‘Someone who thinks you are terrific’.
This is basically the same thing as point #9 so I'm just going to skip it.
14 Once in a while, take a scenic route.
Yep – go take a new route the next time you need to go somewhere. When you take the
same route over and over again – you're brain starts to go into autopilot, you get
lost in your thought, and you don't even remember commuting to the place you're supposed to
be going to. You've been driving for an hour and you literally don't remember any of it.
Because you weren't present at all.
When you go about life like this - you're not really living. You're like a walking zombie.
But on the other hand whenever you take a new route your brain is forced to be more
present because everything around you is slightly different. The more time you spend being present
– the longer your life feels. Time slows down. It allows you to appreciate the stuff
around you. And this can be a great source of joy.
15 Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
I don't know about doing this first thing in the morning EVERY single day because there
are a bunch of other habits that I think fit better first thing in the morning. Such as
drinking a glass of water or meditating. And I would personally change this to “dance
to your favorite music every day”. Which is one of the best ways to enter the flow
state. Because it's one of the few forms of creation that forces you to move with your
entire body. It's pretty hard to move your whole body to a song while day dreaming about
something else. Plus it's always a good thing to have some dance moves in your arsenal that
you can whip out when you're in the right situation.
16 Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital. You need only stay a few minutes.
If you really want to show someone that you care about them – being there for them when
they need it the most is one of the best way to do this. This relates to keeping in touch
with your friends too. You don't need to hang out with people every week to be their friends.
You just got to show up to the important events. I have plenty of very good friends that I
talk to maybe once or twice a year.
It's always great learning things from people who are older and wiser than you which is
why this episode is sponsored by Audible. You guys already know – I love Audible.
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I recommend you guys to listen to “Talking To Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell, which
I'm currently listening too. It talks about how bad we humans actually are at reading
other people. Besides that guys stay tuned.